Jane Murray

Early childhood pedagogies: spaces for young children to flourish

This paper introduces the Special Issue of Early Child Development and Care focused on Early Childhood Pedagogy. It opens by considering past and present discourses concerning early childhood pedagogy, and focus is given to established philosophical underpinnings in the field and their translation to contemporary guidance, alongside research and policy. It is argued that early childhood pedagogy is a contested, complex and diverse space, yet these factors are entirely appropriate for supporting young children to flourish as valued individuals in different contexts. Building on this argument, it is posited that it may be more appropriate to discuss early childhood pedagogies rather than early childhood pedagogy. The paper goes on to critique a range of established early childhood pedagogies, before introducing 18 papers from across the world that make exciting new contributions to the discourse. It is intended that this collection will inspire new debates and fresh endeavours concerning early childhood pedagogies.

Young children's research behaviour? Children aged four to eight years finding solutions at home and at school

Childrens research abilities have become increasingly recognised by adults, yet children remain excluded from the academy. This restricts childrens freedom to make choices in matters affecting them, underestimates their capabilities and denies children particular rights. The present paper reports on young childrens problem-solving as part of a small-scale interpretive study designed to reconceptualise ways in which childrens naturalistic behaviours may be perceived as research. Within a ‘jigsaw methodology’ designed to accommodate participatory, emancipatory and inductive approaches, multi-modal case studies were co-constructed with children aged four to eight (n = 138) and their practitioners (n = 15) in three primary schools and with selected children and their primary carers participating at home. Outcomes include the reassertion by academics of problem-solving as research behaviour, the capturing of young childrens engagements in problem-solving as research behaviour and the identification of a range of factors affecting the childrens problem-solving activity, including high-order thinking.

Ready, steady, learn: school readiness and children’s voices in English early childhood settings

ABSTRACT Internationally, school readiness is increasingly the rationale for early childhood education and care (ECEC). This is the case in England, yet the statutory English Early Years Foundation Stage framework for children 0–5 years also requires practitioners to listen to children’s voices: discourse indicates dissonance between school readiness and listening to children’s voices so this paper discusses an intrinsic case study that investigated beliefs and practices of 25 practitioners in the English midlands regarding school readiness and listening to children’s voices. In survey responses and semi-structured interviews, practitioners indicated they listen to – and act on – children’s voices but are confused about school readiness; their beliefs and practices align more strongly with social pedagogy than pre-primary schoolification. Findings carry messages for policy-makers regarding the need for coherent policy concerning the purpose of ECEC, with practitioner training and a framework aligned fully with that policy. A larger study is indicated.

Parent-Practitioner Partnerships in Early Childhood Provision in England, Hungary and Kazakhstan: Similarities and Differences in Discourses.

ABSTRACT Whilst international policymakers have reached consensus on the importance of investing in early childhood development and increasingly monitor that investment using standardized measurement, the nature and rationale of early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision remain diverse. In the context of that disparity, this article explores an aspect of ECEC provision that is commonly recognized for its potential to enhance young children’s development and learning, yet for which characteristics remain variable: partnerships between ECEC practitioners and parents. The article reports and discusses results from a cross-cultural narrative study that investigated the nature of such partnerships in three different countries: England, Hungary and Kazakhstan. During focus group interviews, ECEC academics (n = 16) discussed five themes that emerged from literature reviews. Findings indicate more differences than similarities between the countries’ narratives concerning ECEC parent-practitioner partnerships, suggesting such partnerships may be an aspect of ECEC provision for which a homogeneous approach and quality measure across countries are not feasible.

Young children are researchers: Children aged four to eight years engage in important research behaviour when they base decisions on evidence

Whilst young children are affected by educational policy decisions based on research evidence, their abilities to make decisions based on evidence are often disregarded by policymakers and professional adult researchers. This article reports on elements of the Young Children As Researchers (YCAR) project, an interpretive empirical study that sought social justice in the field of early childhood by conceptualising ways in which young children aged four to eight years are researchers and may be considered to be researchers. Adopting a principled approach framed by a ‘jigsaw’ methodology, the YCAR study engaged professional adult researchers (n = 34), young children aged four to eight years (n = 138) and their practitioners (n= 15) in three English primary schools. Drawing on the study findings, this aticle argues that decision-making based on evidence is an important research behaviour undertaken by young children that deserves recognition by policymakers, practitioners and the academy as a potential vehicle for realising children’s participation rights.

Value/s in early childhood education

Twenty years ago, as an early childhood teacher, I was fortunate to attend a professional development day conference led by the inimitable Professor Tina Bruce. At the conference, Tina asked we early childhood teachers: ‘What one thing would you put your back to the wall for in your job?’ In other words, Tina wanted us to share with one another the values that guide our daily work with young children and their families. An avowed Froebelian, Tina herself subscribes to a very particular set of values (Bruce 2015) and she is not alone. Many early childhood educators over two centuries have been influenced by the principles and philosophy developed by Froebel, the original kindergarten practitioner (Froebel Trust 2018). Indeed, as for so many others, my own initial teacher education was strongly influenced by Froebelian principles which have continued to guide my work in the field for thirty-five years. We live in an era of unprecedented global focus on early childhood development (UNESCO 2017; WHO 2018), in this editorial I revisit Froebel’s principles and I argue that we would be wise to continue to regard them as relevant and valuable touchstones for early childhood education in the twenty-first century.

In praise of early childhood educators

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including the support of early childhood educators for childrens learning, the use of play-based pedagogy, and the reflective pedagogical practices of preservice teachers.

The Hantown Street Play Project

ABSTRACT Street Play projects have become increasingly popular in Western contexts where children’s outdoor free play has been in decline. Street Play projects are generally organised by adults: children play on urban streets closed to traffic. This paper reports results from an evaluation focused on the Hantown Street Play Project (pseudonym) that took place in a large English town. Hantown Leisure Trust (pseudonym) set up the project, run by playworkers, and commissioned the evaluation ‘ … to identify the impact of the Street Play project on participating children’s perceptions of play in their community and residents’ perceptions of community spirit’. Children aged 3–11 years, parents and local residents participated in questionnaire surveys (n = 216) and semi-structured interviews (n = 25), eliciting 10 themes indicating that participants generally regarded the project positively. However, this paper argues that Street Play is a different proposition from children’s own play on the streets, according to widely recognised definitions of play.

The play’s the thing

Across the world, knowledgeable early childhood educators value young children’s play, a phenomenon established by their predecessors over hundreds of years (Froebel 1826; Montessori 1916; Piaget 1945). Play is recognised by the United Nations as every child’s right (OHCHR 1989); it is accorded sacred status by many early childhood educators and philosophers (Cannella 2002; Gadamer 2003), it is embedded in many countries’ early childhood frameworks and the potential benefits for young children are lauded (Baines and Blatchford 2011; Fromberg and Bergen 2006; Moyles 2015). One definition of play is ‘ ... freely chosen, personally directed, intrinsically motivated behaviour that actively engages the child’ (National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), Children’s Play Council and Playlink (2000) and a definition of free play is ‘play in which players themselves decide what and how to play and are free to modify the goals and rules as they go along’ (Gray 2013, 7). Nevertheless, in the early part of the twenty-first century, there has been growing acknowledgement that some young children’s opportunities for play, especially free play, have become increasingly compromised, colonised and denied (Gleave and Cole-Hamilton 2012; Gray 2013). This phenomenon is not universal: policymakers in some countries value young children’s free play as a key element of early childhood education and care provision. For example, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education (2012) values independent child-led play in early childhood settings and Hungary has a government policy of free play for all children in education and care provision up to the age of seven (Ministry of Human Resources 2012). Equally, Gupta (2018, 21) describes the ‘privileging of the role of play’ in early childhood in India, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Yet many children in the early twenty-first century have fewer opportunities for free play than was the case one or two generations ago, and in the places where this trend occurs, it has been linked to increasing obesity, weak motor and brain development and psychological disorders (Burdette andWhitaker 2005; Goddard Blythe 2005; Gray 2013; Reunamo et al. 2014). There are many complex reasons for some children experiencing fewer free play opportunities; in this final editorial for the 2018 volume of the International Journal of Early Years Education I consider three perceived problems that may have contributed to that phenomenon: undervaluing children’s play, policymakers’ interference and lack of trust in children. In considering the three problems, I propose ways that each might be addressed, and in doing so, I argue that the trend in some parts of the world for reducing young children’s access to play opportunities, particularly free play opportunities, must be reversed if children are to flourish. Firstly, young children’s play often tends to be undervalued. One reason for this is that although many definitions, types and taxonomies of play have been identified (inter alia, Hughes 2002; Hutt et al. 1989; National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) et al. 2000; Parten 1932), there is no universally agreed definition of play. There is some consensus that play resides with the player in his or her situated context, but this means that attempts to define play are congruent with ‘catching bubbles’ (Moyles 2015, 16). In particular, free play is dynamic and difficult to understand for those who are not engaged in the play. However, knowledgeable early childhood educators who are confident in knowing their children and the context of their free play are in a strong position to understand that play and to

Young children's emotional experiences

Drawing on new empirical research focused on children’s emotional experiences, this special issue is timely. Its articles concern challenges and opportunities inherent in young children’s emotional experiences in 21st century contexts of early childhood education and care. They are intended to provoke debate, discussion and critique as well as asking significant questions of policymakers, practitioners and carers who may influence young children’s emotional experiences. As a collection, the articles promote the idea that we must continue to further our understanding of children’s emotional experiences. Nevertheless, the findings they highlight indicate that a test-based approach may detract from young children’s emotional development and the positive emotional experiences in early childhood which have potential to provide an important foundation for a fulfilling life.